The International Miners' Coordination calls upon all miners of the world and their families to mark May 1, 2019

The International Miners' Coordination calls upon all miners of the world and their families to mark May 1, 2019 as an International Day of Struggle together with colleagues from all sectors: for their common interests, the improvement of their living and working conditions and for democratic rights and freedoms. International big capital attacks the achievements gained in struggle by the workers' movement. These must be defended and further demands must be fought for.

In many countries of the world, miners' rights are not respected, are abolished and attacked in various ways. Fighters for workers' rights, trade unionists, are politically and physically threatened in their very existence or even murdered at the behest of industrial and finance capital. This is a dangerous tendency and requires the determined, fitting and coordinated reaction of the entire militant miners' movement in order to lessen its impact or, better still, to abolish it at its roots.

In their continuous efforts to maximize their profits, the companies apply methods such as:
-- Abolishing permanent workforces to replace them with temporary and outsourced jobs;
-- Drastic reduction of wages;
-- Non-compliance with collective bargaining provisions in practice;
-- Violation of hygiene, safety and health regulations at the workplace;
-- Extremely stressful irregular overtime work for miners
-- No coverage of costs for work-related illnesses etc.

In many mining countries of the world such as India, South Africa, Peru, China, Poland or the DR Congo, miners and their families fight against recurring cases of layoffs and plant closures in violation of labor laws. Many workers in ore mining are exposed to massive radioactive radiation and they pay for this with their lives. The environment, including the water, is poisoned as well. This is a dangerous tendency that the miners' movement must counter, united and forcefully with clear and well-planned actions.

In fact, today it is no longer sufficient to put forward demands in just one country alone. The two international miners' conferences in Peru in 2013 and in India in 2017, in the continuation of which the ICG meetings took place, established the following basic principles:

"It is less and less possible today, isolated from each other and locally restricted, to assert ourselves against the international mining monopolies. What we need is the unity of workers worldwide! We want a future worth living, for the people, for us and our children!"

The IMC has the vision of a "worldwide linked miners' movement, struggling for themselves and their children to put the treasures of the soil, the water and the air into the hands of those who make them accessible by their work. They shall be used for a rich, healthy life in dignity for all people in harmony with nature - without exploitation and oppression".

We are counting on the support of many miners for the ideals of the IMC and the success of the regional meetings to strengthen our actions and bring them closer to the miners. We also count on the broad participation of their relatives, women, men, youth, who are closely tied with the militant movement of the miners. The regional conferences, which will take place from the end of 2019, are a prelude to the preparation of the 3rd IMC.
On May 1, the international day of struggle of the working class, workers will demonstrate all over the world. The International Miners' Coordination decided to mark May 1 as a joint international day of struggle of the miners.

Miners' greetings - good luck!